Movie No. 54 (2016): PAMILYA ORDINARYO

Pamilya Ordinaryo (2016)
Director: Eduardo Roy Jr.
Cast: Ronwaldo Martin, Hasmine Killip, Sue Prado
In Tagalog, with English subtitles

Street children are an elephant in the room. They exist. We see them. Sometimes, we don't care. But this movie cares about them. On a second thought, the movie may just be reminding us these street children exist. In this vein, the movie proves its point. There are occasional CCTV footage scenes, which, I think, should be someone else's point of view or just a mere suggestion that we see these things happen and we don't care. I'm not sure if this decision enhances the narrative flow.

The lead characters are Aries and Jane, 17 and 16, respectively. At this age, they really are just kids, but they already have a child, who is 30 days old. The couple do petty crimes for a living. But when their child gets stolen, they must face this unexpected blow that may force them to "come of age" or think and decide like adults. 

Watching this movie is like watching real life. The two lead actors look real. The way they talk, walk, run, and whatever they do look real. This is neorealism, which actually reminds me of a similar situation in The Bicycle Thieves. There is one important scene which I expected to be some homage to either Maynila Sa Kuko Ng Liwanag or The 400 Blows. In my opinion, the movie would be more powerful had it ended there. 

By the way, Ronwaldo Martin, who plays Aries, stands out. The Sue Prado character, I think, is unnecessary.

Rating: 3.0/4.0

Date seen: August 6, 2016